Apparatus for dry cleaning of coal



juiy 23, 1935. E, OTOOLE, SR 2,009,273

APPARATUS FOR DRY CLEANING OF COAL Original Filed March 19, 1931' 3Sheets-Sheet 1 f). 69014, Jr.

gwomto o A Fully 23, 1935. E. OTOOLE, SR

APPARATUS FOR DRY CLEANING OF COAL Original Filed March'l9, 1951 3Sheets-$heet 2 lllllJ July 23, 1935.

E. OTOOLE, SR 2,009,273

APPARATUS FOR DRY CLEANING OF COAL Qriginal Filed March 19, 1931 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Zia $71 6 lll Patented July 23, 1935 1' 4 UNITED STATESPATENT o-FFI E] Application March 19, 1931," SerialNo. 523,904 RenewedAugust 25, 1933 2 Claims. (01. 209-467) deck 4,;by means of links 5.These links S-incline This invention relates to improvements inapparatus for dry cleaning of coal which will be fully explainedhereinafter.

1 :One object of the present. invention is to pro -5 'vide an elongatedlongitudinally vibrating mem her on which is mounted a deck that isdivided into several sections, whereby all of the sections vibrate inunison together. A further object of this invention is to so shape 1 thefeed and delivery ends of these several sections that the feed end ofone section telescopes 'athe delivery end of the adjacent sectionthroughout a plurality of sections, whereby the said sections arearranged in close relation .and .are supported by a single vibratingmember.

Another object of this invention is to arrange a bin extendinglongitudinal the several sections and-substantially throughout the wholelength of the several sections.

A further object of the present invention is to so construct saidlongitudinally extending bin that its bottom forms. the top of a dusthood for the several separating sections, and to :extend from the top.of the 'bin a depending flange portion that embraces all of the saidsection's.

Another object of my invention is to :provide this longitudinal bin witha plurality of longi- -tudinally extending passageways, said passagewaysbeing located over the said sections and each passageway of a lengthsubstantially 'equal to the length of its section whereby severalstreams 'of coal to be separated are fed from the single bin.

Another object of the present invention :is to incline these severalsections fromwtheir outer edges-substantially to their centerand tolocate the several streams of-coal to be separated passing from the binthrough these elongated passageways substantially at the centers of theseveral sections;

other objects of the invention will be understood from the followingdescription.

In theaccompanying drawings: Figure -1 is a top plan view of my presentim- .provement, the feed bin being omitted inorder todisclosethespecific construction .of the several sections of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig.- 1,-shown@part1y in section.

Fig.131isja; cross section :of Fig. 1, taken on the deck sections.

,spaces llil and -l-8 between thern'and the object, of these spaces willbe referred to :furthe'ron.

tromwtheir'lower endstowards the feed' en'ds I #of the several sectionswhich comprise the sepvaratingzportionsaof the deck. TheseseCtions Ghave their feed ends 1,28 .andL'Q taperedias shown. 5 5 Each ofthesedeck'portionszfi is provided on opposite sides :of, its.centerxwith .forwardly'and inwardly extending riffles i0 .and' 'l l'.The feed ends also are provided with upwardly extending board membersI2, which keep the'coal :on each section "-1 from flowing off. In thearrangement here shown, these board portions I2 of the sections 8 -and'9 follow the outline of the .taperedfeedends and the opposite sides ofthese boardsalso form a banking bar for the :perviousdeck section. .The5 board 120i the section 6. also extends upwardly :and follows thetaperedoutline ofthe :feedend The board l2 for the section"Tl-formsmeansto hold the coal fed to that section .thereon, but it does not form abanking bar .since 'itvlhas no 2 cfollowinggseparating section. However,in both the succeeding sections 1 6, 6 board 12 .does perparatus, A

,Locatedabovethe deck sectionsis a bin [.3 that extendssubstantiallyfrom end toend of-the apparatus. This bin has depending portions 14,15,and v :I 6. 7 .One depending portion for each of the 3 These dependingvportions .form

-' -I he lower ends l9=of theseveral dependingzpor- .tions i4, I5, andid of the bin l3, are opengthus 5 I forming passageways for theflow'oficoal-from the bins onto the several sections-6, 61and 6 '.to

vbe separated. These passageways :20 extend longitudinallyand aredocated in themiddle of said sections, whereby the coal flowing throughthese 1 passageways :20 is in the :form of 'a plurality ofelongatedstreams. These ,-passageways :may ;=be

provided with doors -2 l depending. from "the lower perforatedportions-22. -.!I-'he doors: 2i and the ..per iorated; .porti0n, 22 arefully. described :111. my

pending application Serial BNO.':52,3903,f51fi1$d March 19, 1931, andneed not be further here described'as it forms no part of the presentinvention. When these doors 2| and the perforated portion 22 areomitted, then the depending portion 16 may extend nearer to the decksections 6, 5

ing member 3, on which is supported a pervious 6' and 6 'the mass ofcoal.

- chanical means.

When it is desired to retreat the middlings, I provide the troughmembers 23 which are located at opposite sides of the deck portions andthese trough portions have their forward ends 24 extending inward overthe several deck portions. The object of these middlings return troughmembers 23 and 24 is fully described in my pending application SerialNo. 523,901, filed March 19, 1931, and no attempt is made to fullyillustrate or describe it as it forms no part of the presentimprovement.

The operation of this apparatus is that the coal fed to the bin I3 isdivided into several elongated streams and it passes to the longitudinalcenter of each of the deck portions 6, 6' and 6 the same spreading inopposite directions'by gravity from the passageways 20. While thiscoalis being fed, the deck sections are longitudinally vibrating andowing to the inclination of the links 5 as the deck moves forward thelinks lift and when it moves backward the deck in part leaves the saidcoal andhence it is fed step by step forward. Air is at the same timefed into the air chamber 25 from a suitable air blower 2B and this airunder suitable pressure flows through the pervious decks to the coalabove. This'air has a tendency to lift the coal and its reciprocation oragitation due to the vibration of the deck causes a stratification ofThis stratification causes the heavy particles ofthe mass or thosehaving the greatestspeciflc gravity, such as slate or refuse, .to settledownwardly and the slate is caught between the riflles l0 and H, whilethe lighter particles are lifted upward, which operation is well knownto those skilled in this art. The slate, therefore, is at times incontact with the pervious deck and at all times is between the rifllesI0 and II. Owing to this stratification of the particles of the mass theslate is moved forward step by step and the riffles causes it to moveforward and upward While the lighter particles of coal, which are abovethe riflles, flows by gravity substantially at right angles'to theforward movement of the 7 slate and the coal flows over the edges 21 ofsaid deck portions. This coal therefore falls from the edges of the deckinto suitable chutes or receptacles 28, from which it is removed by anyme- Some of the slate that is positively projected in the mannerdescribed reaches the unobstructed central portion 30 and when itreaches this unobstructed portion 30, it is further projected forward tothe unobstructed portion 3| that is located back of the banking bars I2,until As described in my application Serial No. 523,901, filed March 19,1931, the end 34 of that part 23 of said middlings return device islower than the surface of the deck at that point and from thispoint itgradually inclines upward until the end 24 is located above the saiddeck. All of this is fully described in my said application.

It is well known that the middlings contain a 'very small part of coaland by providing means I to receive the middlings at 34 and to returnthem to the deck for retreatment this coal can be large- 1y reclaimedand saved. This, however, forms no part of the present invention. Noattempt is made to show here the manner of supporting and reciprocatingthe middlings return members, as this is fully shown and described andalso claimed in my said application. Any desired reciprocative means canbe provided for reciprocating the deck and no attempt is made here toshow it.

In the section, Fig. 3, the coal flows from the opposite edges of thedeck into suitable chutes 35, and from these chutes it flows into theclean coal trough or other device 28, from which it can be conveyed toany desired point. A suitable chute 36 has its upper end connected withthe refuse receiving member 33 and this chute is bent around the cleancoal receiving trough 28 and has its lower end 31 adapted to feed therefuse into the receiving refuse receptacle 33.

Attention is also directed to an extension 38 of the dust hood. Thisextension embraces the end 39 of the dust hood and a suitable exhaust(not shown) communicates with'the upper end (not shown) of saidextension by means of which the dust laden air is withdrawn from theapparatus and preferably conveyed to a dust cleaner (not shown) andafterwards cleaned of its dust, the cleaned air is allowed to escape. Aswill be seen from Fig. 2, this extension 38 embraces the discharge endof the deck portion 6 I have described with considerable detail thepresent improvement, but I wish it to be understood that it may bevaried without departing from the scope of the invention so long as suchvariation comes within the liberal construction of the appended claims.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that this inventionis adapted to separate all kinds of granular material which compriseelements having different specific gravity characteristics and tooperate upon either sized or unsized masses of coal or other material.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for the dry cleaning of coal and the like includingparticles having different specific gravity characteristics comprising aplurality of deck sections supported one behind the other, meansconnected with all of said sections for longitudinally vibrating themand a single bin arranged above the said sections and feeding coal to becleaned thereto, and flanges depending from the upper edges of said bindownward and embracing the said sections forming dust laden chambers foreach of said sections, said chambers all connected whereby the dustladen air of all the sections may be withdrawn therefrom.

2. An apparatus for the dry cleaning of coal including particles havingdifferent specific gravity characteristics comprising several decksections arranged one behind the other, said sections having their feedand discharge ends tapered.

in the same direction and a combined banking and holding bar acting tobank the heavy refuse particles on one section and to hold the coal onthe feed end of the adjacent section, said tapered ends of one decksection telescoping the adjacent end of the other deck section, andmeans for longitudinally vibrating said sections.

EDWARD OTOOLE, SR.

